Maricopa County devotes website to helping veterans

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County has unveiled a new one-stop Internet shop for the Valley's veterans.

County Manager Tom Manos said the Veterans Resources site covered topics as diverse as housing and legal services to finding jobs -- the unemployment rate for returning veterans is at about 12 percent. That's almost twice that of the nation's rate of 7 percent.

"Veterans can start by looking at what jobs we have in Maricopa County," Manos said. "If they need help with resume and interviewing skills, we can help with that."

Veterans homelessness is a major challenge, with an estimated 1 in every 5 people on the streets a military veteran.
"It is not acceptable to anybody in this community that we have a military veteran sleeping on the floor of a homeless shelter," Manos said.

The Valley has made great strides when it comes to ending homelessness and has been singled out by the Obama Administration as a model for the nation.